| 56371 | May.17 | Event | 2013 – Two Metro-North commuter trains collide near Bridgeport, Connecticut injuring at least 72 people. |
| 56372 | May.17 | Event | 2014 – A plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people. |
| 56373 | May.17 | Event | 2015 – At least 9 people are killed and 18 injured, some by law enforcement and others in gunfire exchanges, in a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas. |
| 56374 | May.17 | Birth | 1155 – Jien, Japanese monk, poet, and historian (d. 1225) |
| 56375 | May.17 | Birth | 1443 – Edmund, Earl of Rutland (d. 1460) |
| 56376 | May.17 | Birth | 1551 – Martin Delrio, Belgian occultist and theologian (d. 1601) |
| 56377 | May.17 | Birth | 1628 – Ferdinand Charles, Archduke of Austria (d. 1662) |
| 56378 | May.17 | Birth | 1682 – Bartholomew Roberts, Welsh pirate (d. 1722) |
| 56379 | May.17 | Birth | 1706 – Andreas Felix von Oefele, German historian and librarian (d. 1780) |
| 56380 | May.17 | Birth | 1718 – Robert Darcy, 4th Earl of Holderness, English politician and diplomat, Secretary of State for the Southern Department (d. 1778) |
| 56381 | May.17 | Birth | 1732 – Francesco Pasquale Ricci, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1817) |
| 56382 | May.17 | Birth | 1743 – Seth Warner, American colonel (d. 1784) |
| 56383 | May.17 | Birth | 1749 – Edward Jenner, English physician and microbiologist (d. 1823) |
| 56384 | May.17 | Birth | 1758 – Sir John St Aubyn, 5th Baronet, English politician (d. 1839) |
| 56385 | May.17 | Birth | 1768 – Caroline of Brunswick (d. 1821) |
| 56386 | May.17 | Birth | 1768 – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1854) |
| 56387 | May.17 | Birth | 1794 – Anna Brownell Jameson, Irish-English author (d. 1860) |
| 56388 | May.17 | Birth | 1821 – Sebastian Kneipp, German priest and therapist (d. 1897) |
| 56389 | May.17 | Birth | 1836 – Virginie Loveling, Belgian author and poet (d. 1923) |
| 56390 | May.17 | Birth | 1836 – Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-American chess player (d. 1900) |
| 56391 | May.17 | Birth | 1844 – Julius Wellhausen, German orientalist and scholar (d. 1918) |
| 56392 | May.17 | Birth | 1845 – Jacint Verdaguer, Catalan priest and poet (d. 1902) |
| 56393 | May.17 | Birth | 1860 – Martin Kukučín, Slovak author and playwright (d. 1928) |
| 56394 | May.17 | Birth | 1863 – Léon Gérin, Canadian lawyer, sociologist, and civil servant (d. 1951) |
| 56395 | May.17 | Birth | 1864 – Louis Richardet, Swiss target shooter (d. 1923) |
| 56396 | May.17 | Birth | 1864 – Ante Trumbić, Croatian lawyer and politician, 27th Mayor of Split (d. 1938) |
| 56397 | May.17 | Birth | 1866 – Erik Satie, French pianist and composer (d. 1925) |
| 56398 | May.17 | Birth | 1868 – Horace Elgin Dodge, American businessman, co-founded Dodge (d. 1920) |
| 56399 | May.17 | Birth | 1873 – Henri Barbusse, French author and journalist (d. 1935) |
| 56400 | May.17 | Birth | 1873 – Dorothy Richardson, English author and journalist (d. 1957) |